RS

MEMBER DIARY

Government and Marriage

One point often overlooked in the gay marriage debate is the reason why Government States recognize heterosexual marriage: To govern the inheritance of land and title amongst biological offspring of the union.

In other words – which of your kids gets what when you punch your ticket to the afterlife? Sadly, when a large part of the world is illiterate, there is no Last Will and Testament to settle matters.

Unfortunately, dealing with inheritance quickly becomes pretty messy. Who inherits what? In most cultures the first born son ends up with the lion’s share of the inheritance, even over the widow. Simple enough, right? Yet the Bible sets a precedent where the younger, first born son of a man’s wife (Isaac) gets his inheritance before a man’s older, first born son of his mistress (Ishmael). Sounds unfair, but it’s also a way to promote marriage and fidelity. So the man’s first born son to his wife gets the inheritance. What if the man had no male heir, but had a few daughters, and a man claiming to be an illegitimate son show up, who gets what then?

As a result, government had to get involved to set down rules governing inheritance claims. And, as part of the precedent set by Abraham, in order to follow the inheritance laws and customs marriage was necessary for the State to recognize.

Since a homosexual union can not produce biological offspring, the question that’s not being asked enough is: What problem, exactly, are you trying to solve by having a government recognize a homosexual union as a “marriage”?

Inheritance? You can leave whatever you want to whoever you want in a Last Will and Testament. Medical decisions in the event you’re incapacitated? Living Will and Power of Attorney documents – which in some states even heterosexual married couples have to specifically grant each other.

So, I’ll repeat the question: What problem, exactly, are you trying to solve that requires Government States to recognize Gay Marriage?